Follower of Trouble
by Tom Cat Hengrave
Summary: This is a a story with Cat and Charlie pairing. Mostly fluff. Rated T for fluff! :)
1. Chapter 1 Awkward Silence

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any of the Cat Royal Adventure Books, and sadly never wrote them.**

**This is another Cat Royal Fan Fiction, although it's a Cat and Charlie pairing. (Just because I love Charlie so much.)**

**And it's also to pass the time. As I have a lot of 'The Ball in Bath' chapters just waiting to be published. :D This one is basically going to be fluff, no depth or anything, (maybe) so be forewarned. :D **

**It's probably going to be a shorter fan fiction just because it's be fluff and all.**

**Anyway, hope you all have fun. :)**

We sat in silence, saying nothing, wishing that Frank would come back and remove all of the awkwardness.

I had never been alone with Charlie before, and I realized, for the first time, that it was quite awkward.

Charlie must have felt the same way, since he wasn't saying anything. Usually he would be making a joke, or planning a trick.

He was never silent. Until now that is.

"So do you usually cause so much trouble?" Charlie grinned, trying to make the situation less awkward.

"If you have to ask a question like that, then you don't know me very well," I smiled in return, "I'm always causing trouble. Wherever I go, trouble follows."

Charlie laughed, "Maybe I should stick around you; add some adventure to my dull and boring life."

"You mean studying to be a lawyer isn't fun?" I asked sarcastically.

Charlie just snorted, "Hardly. I honestly would rather work in a theatre like you do."

"Rather be a poor orphan working at a theatre instead of a rich boy that is soon to be a lawyer?" I grinned.

"I'd rather work with you than anything." Charlie pretended that his words meant nothing.

I raised my eyebrows saying nothing. Did Charlie want to work with me when I was Tom Cat? Or when I was Catherine Royal? Did he mean for his words to have a romantic impact?

**Sorry for the short chapter, but there will be more to come. Don't worry. :)**


	2. Chapter 2 It All Started With Syd

**Thank you all for your reviews! It makes me happy to see that it's already got three. ^-^**

**And yes, the cover is supposed to be Charlie, although I forget what Charlie's supposed to look like. :D *Sheepish grin* (Sometimes Skandar Keynes looks SO MUCH like my brother it's not even funny. Well yes, it is kind of funny...)**

**Okay, so the story will kind of be following the story-line in Cat Among the Pigeons when she's at Cambridge-with more Charlie of course. ;)**

**Yes, anyway, here is the next chapter. :) (By the way, if you think I should do a chapter or two from Charlie's point of view, then say so! But if you want me to stick with Cat's point of view that's fine too.)**

Syd's arrival was announced by a loud thumping at the door.

Frank jumped up, "I'll get it."

"Thanks," I slumped in my chair. I was exhausted from playing a 'boy'. True, being a boy meant you could do all sorts of unladylike things, but it also meant that I had to keep my voice low, perpetually keep a grimace on my face just because boys had the stupid idea in their head that looking 'manly' includes grimacing.

"Cat's gone missin'," Syd breathed hard, "The runners are watching all over the place, the shop, your 'ouse, the theater, the whole town!" Syd's checks were flushed, "I've been keepin' an eye out for 'er, all me boys are watchin' out for her, but she's gone! I'm afraid that something'll 'appen to 'er. If she spends another night on the street, I don't know what I'll do," Syd's eyes were filled with distress.

"Don't you know big Oaf?" Tears threatened to spill onto my face.

"Cat? Cat!" Syd ran to me and scooped me up in his strong arms, "Why on earth are you 'ere?"

"I'm hiding from the runners." I said bluntly, "So far so good."

"You can't stay 'ere!" Syd held me at arms length, examining me, "'They'll find out that you're a girl! And 'wot if the boys pick on you?"

"They already have," Frank said matter-of-factly, "And Cat sorted them out, didn't you Cat?"

"Yep," I started play-punching Syd in the stomach, "I learned some tricks from the master."

"Cat," Syd made me look at him, "This isn't a joke, you could be beat up really badly."

"Syd, I'll be better off here," I kept my tone serious, "The runners would be sure to get me as soon as I walked onto the streets!"

Syd said nothing. When he said nothing it usually meant he knew he wasn't going to win the battle. "Fine."

"Yay-," Syd cut me off.

"But if you get into a fight, just remember to hit here-he pointed to Frank's jaw-, generally don't go below the waistline, but if you're in a real predicament and need to get out of a fight fast, punch right there-Syd pointed-Frank blushed a bright red, and it'll sort them out for a while.

"Thanks Syd," I gave him a half smile.

Syd stood still for a moment, then picked me up with his tough arms, squeezing the life out of me, "Stay safe Cat."

"I will," I hugged him back, although he was draining the life out of me, "You're squeezing me Syd."

"Sorry," He sat me down and grinned, "Goodbye Cat." He waved to me as he walked out the door.

"Bye Syd." Frank and I wandered into the kitchen.

"Sausages anyone?" Charlie held out a pan of sizzling sausages, with grilled bread on the side.

"Sure," I breathed in deeply, "Smells good."

"I'll pass," Frank snitched a piece of sausage, "Mostly," He grinned, "I have to go study. See you guys later."

"Okay." Charlie scraped some sausage and bread onto two different plates, "Poor half-starved Tom Cat first," Charlie grinned and offered me a plate with flourish.

"Haha! Thank you big brother." I dug into the food without further ado.

"So, do you and Syd have a thing going on?" Charlie emphasized the word _thing. _

"Um," This was going to be an awkward conversation, "No..."

Charlie raised his eyebrows, "Sure he doesn't have different ideas?"

"Well..." I trailed off, why did I have to explain this? "Why are you wondering?"

"No reason," Charlie answered quickly. A little _too _quickly.

I gave him a skeptical look.

"I was just curious." Charlie tried to make up for his suspicious answer.

"Really," I stuffed my face with some grilled bread with a hunk of cheese on top, "I might ask what's going on with you and Lucy."

"Nothing at all," He gave me a defiant look, daring me to say otherwise.

"Hah!" I said with my mouth full, "That's why you two were talking privately in the Avon's library awhile ago." I gave a half grin half smirk.

"See? You said yourself that it was awhile ago."

"So you're admitting that you used to like her?" I grinned even bigger.

"No!" Charlie exasperatedly sighed, "She was like my sister; annoying, full of herself, and can't stop digging herself deeper into holes."

"But still lovable," I was enjoying teasing Charlie. It was quite easy to get a reaction from him.

"Ugh," He rolled his eyes, "Maybe like a sister. Nothing more."

I gave him an are-you-sure-about-that look.

"It's the honest truth." He held his hands up, "I can swear."

"It's the same with Syd and myself."

"Really?" Charlie put his hands down, "Does he know that?"

"Does Lucy know how you feel?" I dodged his question.

"I-I don't know. But you didn't answer my question." His normally calm eyes held the look of curiosity that would not be satisfied until he had the answer.

"Well, he sort of knows..." I didn't actually know if Syd knew that I thought as him as a brother. I knew that I had given him hints as to what I thought, but I had never actually flat out told him. "I'm not sure."

"Hah! Didn't think so." Charlie smirked.

"I doubt Lucy knows that you think of her as a sister either." I smirked back.

"Ugh!" Charlie stood up and put his dish on top of the stack of dishes that had piled up, "You're hopeless."

"Am I?" I smiled, "You just don't know how to handle me. Only Syd does." I grinned at the last comment I made.

"Is he?" Charlie said nothing more, making it awkward.

As soon as he washed wiped his hands on a hand towel he irritably exited the room.

_What did I do? _I was baffled. Was he that touchy whenever I mentioned Syd?

**So how'd you like it? :D Still not sure if I should make the story super short or make it a bit longer.**

**(I'm spoiling you guys to death. :D )**

**I feel like Charlie deserves more than just a few chapters. ;) Agreed? **


	3. Chapter 3 Wolfsbane

**Okay, due to a persistent person, I'll update. :)**

Richmond had a dislike for me, I was sure about that, but would it drive him to kill me with the sword?

* * *

><p>It all started that Sunday morning...<p>

I sat in front of Frank's mirror, examining my appearance. My hair now curled at my ears, leaving my neck feeling exposed. And my ankles...despite being hidden in thick stockings, it felt so different having them in view. Indecent somehow. I experimented with some expressions; boredom was the one I'd had the most opportunities to study. Smiling was definitely out; as soon as I smiled I became all the more girlie. A grimace was better.

"Hello Tom Cat."

I whirled around, "Don't you know how to knock?" I glared at him.

"I noticed you weren't at breakfast," He ignored my question, "Not ill I hope?"

"No, I'm perfectly fine." I replied curtly. Why was he showing sudden interest in my welfare?

"Will you be up for a fencing lesson?" His face looked serious, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to kill me.

If I said no, he'd take me for a sissy, if I said yes I'd most likely get beat pretty badly. I hesitated.

"Or are you a strict Sabbath observer?" His comment almost made me laugh. He should have seen me on Sunday morning back in Drury Lane.

"No."

"Then prove it."

"Fine. I'll do it." Was I going to regret my actions? Most likely.

"Good," Richmond grinned, "I'll see you after the morning services." And with that he left me to contemplate my foolishness.

* * *

><p>Surely he wouldn't kill me. He could get expelled. Or worse.<p>

Although he still might try to beat me up to the worst degree before it caused him trouble.

* * *

><p>"Boys!" An elderly woman exclaimed as she inspected my bruises, "They get more and more reclace as the days go by." She muttered to herself.<p>

I rubbed my eyes, "Where am I?"

All of the events started flooding back into my mind.

Richmond challenging me to a duel, then beating me up, and then finally I had lost consciousness.

My head pounded at the thought.

"Take off yir shirt dearie," The old woman prodded, "I need to apply wolfsbane to yir back."

All weariness dissapeared and shock replaced it. "No."

"Don't be so stubborn!" The old woman scolded, "It needs to be applied if you don't want to have a nice lookin' back again."

My eyes widened even more. "No." I whispered.

Charlie thankfully chose that moment to barge in, "Where is Ca-Tom?" He studied the old woman. Then took a look at my horrified face.

"Here," The old woman shoved the wolfsbane into Charlie's hands. "Yir the boy's brother, no?"

"I am..." Charlie answered hesitantly.

"Then put that on his back." The woman sighed wearily and put her hands on her hips, "He's a shy one. Won't take his shirt off."

Charlie's eyes widened as far as mine, "If you'll excuse us, I'll just put it on him."

"Thank ye kindly." The woman strutted out of the room.

Charlie handed me the wolfsbane and turned his back.

"Cat what happened to you!" Charlie demanded angrily, "Who did it?"

"Uh..." I rubbed some wolfsbane on my arms, "I can't reach my back."

By Charlie's voice, I could tell that he was blushing, "Right."

I turned around and covered my front, "Okay Charlie."

I sat on the bed waiting for him to apply the wolfsbane.

"Who did it Cat?" Charlie massaged the wolfsbane into my back. "I'll kill them." His voice seethed with anger.

"Richmond." My voice was barely above a whisper, "But please Charlie, don't do anything back to him, he'll just hurt you too, and that would just hurt me more if you got hurt because of me."

"I swear I will make him sorry that he was ever born." Charlie's rubbing got more vigorous as if he hadn't heard a word I said.

"Charlie please," I begged. "Don't do anything."

"He can't just get away with this Cat!" His voice strained.

"It's better than Hawkins." I tried seeing the bright side of things.

"Not funny Cat." He muttered.

"Really Charlie, I'll be fine. I'll just stay with you or Frank all of the time."

"He should still pay."

"Are ye done?" The door burst open.

"Yes," Charlie quickly averted his eyes as I hurried to put my shirt back on.

"Promise me you won't do anything to Richmond," I whispered to Charlie, "He isn't worth it."

Charlie faced me and I saw a fire in his eyes, "But you are."

I sat on my bed contemplating his response. Would he actually hurt Richmond? If he did, Richmond would surely get back and hurt either himself, Frank, or myself.

I was honestly confused as to whether I wanted him to avenge my honor, or make sure he stayed safe.

Would I be dissapointed if he didn't go after Richmond for my sake? Or did I even care what he did or thought?

I wasn't even sure what to think anymore. Once upon a time I though I had something for Johnny, but then he had his eye on Lizzie.

Syd, he was the one that (if I were sensible) I would settle down with him, but he wasn't very...adventurous.

But then there was Charlie. He was kind, gentle, considerate, just about everything a girl could ask for.

Wait a minute. This wasn't how Cathrine Royal was supposed to think. Right? Right.

"Go back to sleep dearie." The woman intruded my girly thoughts and pushed my shoulder so I'd lie down.

I didn't protest. Sleep would surely help me sort out my thoughts. Little did I know how wrong I was.

**Okay, so I wrote this mainly to let ya'll know that this story is on hold, because I'm writing a book on Wattpad (called Texas Stars - The Cowboys' Love Series) and I'm also writing "The Ball in Bath". I know all love Charlie, (as do I) and you want to see more of him, but you'll have to be patient. (If you can, read my story on Wattpad! It'd make me really really happy! :) ) Thank you all so much!**

**(Special thanks to the Guest who saved me from much embarrassment. :) )**

**Lizzie~**


	4. Chapter 4 Starry Night

**Revised Version: Enjoy!**

"Cat!" Charlie stopped his pacing and wrapped me up in his arms.

I can't say that I didn't enjoy the feeling. Well...

"Ouch, you're hurting me, Charlie." I winced.

"Sorry." Charlie stepped back and examined me, afraid he would discover more bruises.

"Don't worry, Charlie, I'm doing much better now. Just a few bruises left." I sat down on his bed. "Where's Frank?"

"He's talking with someone." Charlie sighed and sat down next to me. "He got in trouble for putting a worm in Richmond's food. Of course Richmond didn't see Frank do it, but he assumed it was him. And he was right. Well, partially right, Richmond also said that I did it too. But I didn't."

I raised an eyebrow. Charlie was usually the first one to prank someone else.

Charlie ignored my look. "Frank stood up for me, he said that it was all his doing and that he was the one responsible."

"How chivalrous." I chuckled.

"Hardly. He was just being honest. I honestly had nothing to do with the worm. It was all Frank." he noted solemnly.

"I was kidding, Charlie." I saw his expression go from being serious, to embarrassed. "So what have I missed in the lessons?"

"Not much that you don't already know. Mostly reviewing the Latin that we've learned, and other non-important stuff."

"Are you implying that Latin is not important?" I raised my eyebrows accusingly.

Charlie saw my look and stammered. "N-no, not at all. It's just that, the other subjects, and all that, they are, well, not very interesting."

"Calm down Charlie. I wasn't being serious!" I giggled girlishly.

I couldn't laugh as hard as I wanted to, as that would hurt my already bruised ribs.

"You're face though." I burst into laughter this time, as much as it hurt me, and I went from laughing to crying, as it hurt so much to laugh and yet Charlie's face was so hilarious.

It wasn't actually _that _funny, but it felt good to laugh for once.

"Stop laughing," Charlie frowned, "you're hurting yourself."

Charlie's face contorted at the site of me, which, unfortunately, made me laugh(and cry) even harder.

I suppose all of my pent up emotions came poring out in the form of either laughing or crying.

"Cat." Charlie warned. "You need to stop. You're scaring me."

My laughing had turned into the type where I wasn't making a sound - only breathing in gasps of air when needed.

Even_ I_ didn't know why I was laughing so hard. Nerves I suppose.

"Cat." he took hold of my shoulders. "Cat."

I managed to reduce my laughing down to short bursts of laughter.(Unfortunately sounding very unmanly-like.)

"Would you guys keep it d-" Frank trailed off as he saw us. He just raised an eyebrow, looking quite amused. "Well, I'll just go-"

I turned red as I had my head buried into Charlie's shoulder, and Charlie had his arms on my shoulders.

"Frank!" I quickly hopped off the bed and latched onto his arm, keeping him from going. "Don't go."

Frank laughed quietly. "Someone's getting attached aren't they?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh," Frank answered skeptically, "so you'd rather be attached to Charlie?"

I could practically feel his evil grin. "No." I frowned.

If I were looking I could have seen Charlie tense up. (Or so I was told by Frank later on.)

"Or really?" he smirked.

"Of course not.

"Would you rather have Syd?" he pushed.

"No, no, and no!" I huffed. "I'm not attached to anyone, nor will I be."

"Whatever you say dearest." he gave me a quick hug before pulling a piece of bread from his pocket and ripping it apart with his teeth.

"Come on, Cat." Charlie glared at Frank before offering me his hand. "Can't stay with this mongrel." he gestured to Frank.

Frank feigned hurt, then muttered. "More like he wants you all for himself."

I ignored Frank and took Charlie's hand.

Wait. Where was Charlie taking me?

"Charlie?"

"What?"

"Where are we going?"

Charlie looked back at me. "Outside."

"Um, Charlie, we aren't supposed to be out after dark."

"Details, my dear, details."

"Why are we going outside?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Because." he opened the back door and slipped out.

"Why are we sneaking out?"

"Because I wanted to. Now stop talking." he continued to drag me along across the grass until we were out of ear shot from the Cambridge dorms and he pulled me down beside him onto the grass.

"You can let go of my hand now. I'm not _that _fragile." I snorted.

"Right." Charlie blushed and let go of my hand, lying back down on the grass.

"Why are we here?" I scrunched my eyebrows.

Charlie didn't reply, instead he grabbed my collar and yanked me down so I was facing the stars.

"Oh." I saw what he meant. There were so many stars up in the sky, arranged in a spectacular order it was as if time had stopped. Only Charlie's breathing told me it hadn't.

"I know." he smiled at turned to look at me.

Then he sat up.

"What?" I sat up as well.

He sighed for a minute, pursing his lips and frowning, creating crinkles on his forehead. "Cat, what are you planning to do? You can't stay here forever. And who knows when the runners will go away." he voice was laced with concern.

I looked down and thought for a minute.

If worst came to worst, I could just go hide in Syd's place and pray the runners don't look there. Or I could knock off Charlie's brother and continue learning at Cambridge(kidding, of course), I could see if Frank's parents would hide me for a while and, again, hope that the runners would run off and leave me alone for the rest of my life, or I could always just run off into the woods and most likely die. Kidding again.

I took a deep breath. "I don't know, maybe I could run-" I looked back up to see Charlie, looking at me, as if scrutinizing me and etching it into his memory.

His hair ruffled from the wind, his midnight colored eyes worried and his scarlet lips curved into a frown.

The proximity caused my breath to get caught in my throat.

Charlie's eyes flickered towards my lips before looking back up. "Cat, you don't have to keep running." he whispered before leaning in and placing an soft kiss on my chapped lips, allowing me to sink into his strong arms and letting time stop.

He pulled away and murmured, "I love you, Cat," before his lips found mine once more.

At that moment I felt myself fall off the deep end for Charlie Hengrave.

**The End.**

**UPDATE: Okay, so originally this was going to be fluff fluff and more fluff. And now it is. The end. For real. Draw your own conclusions. Charlie and Cat get married and have a girl named ****Carleigh. (Carlie. Get it? Like a ship name? No? Whatever...) Kidding. But anyway...**

**SHE IS BACK. I am not dead, believe it or not. I just really didn't feel like writing.**

**But seriously. Charlie is ten times cuter and lovable in my other book than this one. (Vise-versa for Frank.)**

**Why why why? Charlie is acting like an idiot and he is supposed to be the romantic interest. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME. LOL, okay, tell me if you like/hate Charlie, or what. Thanks! :)**


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